Comfort in the Aftermath
by RebeccaRoy
Summary: AU, Remus Lupin has committed his first murder ever, that of Fenrir Grayback, and instead of feeling vindicated he feels horrible. As he thinks on killing himself to rid the world of a monster one Severus Snape is there for him and in the process helps m


_Disclaimer:_

_I do not own the characters of Harry Potter, these belong to that wonderful author JK Rowling and the various publishing companies used to publish her works. I am however borrowing them, no not to make money but for fun and fun only. Only JK Rowling, her publishers, Warner Brothers and who JK Rowling says can make money and she has not given me permission for that, so no I do not make money off this, again it is for fun!_

_Summary:_

_AU, Remus Lupin has committed his first murder ever, that of Fenrir Grayback, and instead of feeling vindicated he feels horrible. As he thinks on killing himself to rid the world of a monster one Severus Snape is there for him and in the process helps more than one broken heart. Nope, not slash._

Remus Lupin looked down in shock at the mangled body of what had been Fenrir Grayback. Oh God had he done that? He stood over the dead werewolf bloody naked and barely aware of the pain in his right hand, the hand that had held the silver knife, the hand that was now badly burned. He turned at the whimper and knew it came not from him but the boy chained to the wall. Draco Malfoy, and no he had not been bit, at least he would not suffer the monster. He was clothed, and he had given the knife to Remus and the rest was a blur to Remus as the pain bit into his hand as he forced it into the evil monster who taunted him and the boy. He felt sick, he had ripped the werewolf apart and killed him, oh he was a damned soul now.

"Are you alright?" He asked the young man.

"You killed him." Draco said.

"I had no choice, he was going to kill you or worse." Remus said.

"I wanted to thank you." Draco said.

Remus nodded and helped unbind the boy. They left the room and still stunned Remus found a bathroom and went in and turned on the water to get the blood off him. _Monster you should be put down, you enjoyed that you wicked cur_. The thought went through his head over and over like a mantra. He was dimly aware of someone coming into the room, turning off the water and drying him off. He looked up with haunted blue eyes to see Snape over him and he let out a moan of fear and shame. Snape saw his nakedness and removed his loose outer robe and forced it on the werewolf. He used his wand to close the front of it and helped the werewolf out of the room. He had seen the body and knew what Remus had done and he knew Remus was in conflict.

"Lets get you out of here shall we?" Severus said to the stunned werewolf.

"Leave me, get the boy out." Remus said. "Not worth saving."

"You are coming with me, I did not track down your flea-bitten hide to leave you behind!" Severus said sharply. "Still being a twit, I will carry you if you refuse to come with me."

"I am a monster, I k-killed Severus, I killed a man!" Remus said.

"I would hardly call Grayback a man, a monster, a demon but a man never." Severus said.

Severus found a fireplace, made a fire and threw floo powder on it. He grabbed Draco by his robes, called out Grimmauld place and shoved the boy through. Then he grabbed Remus and threw more floo powder on the fire and drug Remus through. They tumbled into the kitchen at Grimmauld place and found Poppy there already. She saw the damage to Remus, the silver had burned a deep gash into the palm of his hand but she could heal it up enough so that the scars would be minimal. She set to work, first cleaning the wound then smearing a paste on the wound and lastly bandaging it securely.

"I-I enjoyed it." Remus said as soon as she had finished and left. "I was just going to use t-the knife a-and I s-saw red."

"You saved Draco Malfoy." Severus said. "You had to kill him, there was no choice."

"I ripped h-him apart." Remus said trembling standing there before Severus head bowed. "I, you should not be here around me."

"Where do you think you are going?" Severus asked as Remus made his way to the door.

"Leaving, I cannot be around you or anyone, I am a monster." Remus said and he tried to open the door but found it looked he turned to Severus a feral look in his eyes. "Let me out."

"No, I will not, you are not going anywhere." Severus said.

"You are not my keeper!" Remus shouted.

"I am until you stop being a complete git." Severus said.

With a roar Remus slammed into Severus and threw him onto the table. He was going to force Severus to make him leave, attacking him would scare him enough to let him go he reasoned. He threw the taller man to the table and snarled at him showing as much wolf as he could. Severus was under him, wand out but he did not use it. He was afraid but not of Remus because he knew the werewolf was not going to hurt him. That was the advantage of being such a good Legilimens he knew that Remus was trying to drive him off. Unfortunately that was not going to happen, not anymore. Severus could not abandon one who had called him friend and accepted him even when he knew what he was. No besides Albus would never forgive him if he allowed Remus to run away now.

"You will open that door now!" Remus snarled.

"No." Severus said.

"Open it or I kill you here and now!" Remus said.

"No you will not, you do not want to hurt me." Severus said and gave a cry of pain as Remus hit him.

"Oh God." Remus said in horror as he realized what he had done. "Oh God forgive me!"

He got off Severus and retreated away from the potions master and curled up on the table, arms around knees, head on knees. Severus sat across from him and was about to say something when he saw Remus was crying. Now Severus had seen children cry, women and even men cry, hell he had even cried himself but seeing Remus cry unnerved him to no end. He had always thought deep down Remus was so strong and not given to this kind of emotion. In fact Severus envied him for being so strong but now the werewolf was huddled on the table sobbing so hard he was having a hard time breathing. Severus moved closer to the other wizard and seized him by the shoulders and shook him as gently as he could.

"Breath Remus, breath you are going to hyperventilate." Severus said.

"I am wicked, a monster, I don't deserve to l-live!" Remus sobbed.

"You are not a monster." Severus said.

"I am, y-you e-even s-said so, n-not t-tame…"

"I am sorry my words hurt you that badly." Severus said looking uncomfortable. "You are a better man that I ever could be."

"I am not a man!" Remus nearly screamed. "I am a murdering werewolf!"

"No, you killed because you had to, you grieve because you have a heart." Severus said.

He moved slightly and found himself comforting Remus. Remus clung to him like a little child to his parent. Severus put an arm around the poor man and Remus sobbed into the other man's shoulder dampening his robes with his tears. Severus had a heart himself and it was breaking at seeing how much pain Remus was in. How he had been wrong about him in the past, Remus was a tortured soul and all he had done was treat him like an animal. Yes Remus Lupin was a werewolf but it was not his fault and Severus felt guilty for treating him as if it were. Remus' sobs became less violent and his moans much like that of a wounded animal stopped completely. It was while Severus was settling the werewolf down the door opened and the last person Severus wanted to deal with came in, Sirius Black.

"What happened?" He asked coming over to Remus who clutched tighter at Severus as he shifted to try to let Sirius comfort his friend. "I heard he killed Grayback that true?"

"Yes and he is not dealing well with it." Severus said. "He is not a killer, it has hurt him."

"I am a m-monster." Remus sobbed.

"No you are not." Severus said. "You are a good strong brave wizard who has one small problem, well two really."

"What would that be?" Sirius asked him trying to keep civil to his old enemy.

"One he cannot control the other is you beat yourself up too much." Severus said. "Now I think it is time you take a bath and get some sleep."

"Need some help?" Sirius said looking at Remus who was yawning his head off.

"Yes, please." Severus said slowly.

Both men carefully helped Remus up and helped him up the stairs to the bathroom. Severus drew him a hot bath and both men got him out of the robes and helped him into the tub. Remus cleaned up and finally when done he was helped to bed. Sirius watched as Severus gave Remus a dreamless draught and Sirius turned into Padfoot and lay down on the bed by his best friend. Severus conjured up a chair, sat down by the bed and took out a book. He was not tired and so he sat by the bed and read far into the night keeping watch over his friend…

End.


End file.
